Bi-monthly news on tech, trends, hot topics, communication, creativity and innovation.

1. TRENDWATCH
Bi-monthly news on tech, trends, hot topics,
communication, creativity and innovation
Solange Francois
September 2017

2. The purpose of TrendWatch
TrendWatch is designed to inspire our ways of thinking.
The news and topics have been hand-picked to
encourage ideas that go beyond
the focus of our day-to-day work.
September’s edition includes:
- Travel
- Retail
- Food
- Health
- Communication and media
- Personalisation
- Technology
- Aerospace

3. While you’re reading
Here are some questions to ask yourself:
- Could I apply this idea to my industry?
- What impact will this have in the future?
- What can this teach us about changing consumer trends?
- How will this play in the future employment landscape?
- What does this mean for existing business models?
By asking these questions now, we can be
better prepared for the future.

4. Amazon buysWhole Foods…
Amazon has bought Whole Foods in a deal worth $13.7b
“Combining Amazon’s speed, convenience, and low-cost delivery with
Whole Foods’ depth of variety in fresh foods could be a win for consumers.
Whether it will lead to fundamental shifts in shoppers’ behavior or spur
other grocers to join up with e-commerce specialists is an open question.
The proof will be in the (organic, dairy-free) pudding.”
Read more: Strategy&
Image:Whole Foods

5. …and is making its
own messaging app
Amazon is working on a messaging app called ‘Anytime’ to rival Facebook’s
Messenger, be better thanWhatsApp and could be theWeChat of North
America.
Read more:TechCrunch and LinkedIn

6. Food
The unicorn and mermaid food movements
are all about bright, colourful food, most
commonly coloured with natural ingredients
such as purple cabbage and ‘superfoods’ like
beetroot, turmeric, algae and chlorophyll.
Read more: Vogue and NewYorkTimes
Starbucks was quick to jump aboard with their
Unicorn Frappuccino, and has also just
released a turmeric latte in the UK.
Other ingredients, like collagen, probiotics and
activated charcoal are being added to various
food and beverages. Image: MichaelTulipan
Image:The Indigo Kitchen

7. Mood-enhancing ingredients
The recent nootropics (cognitive
enhancers) surge has been followed
by a movement of ‘happy’ foods that
stimulate serotonin and dopamine.
Read more:Telegraph - Gatwick
serves ‘happy meals’ with mood-
enhancing ingredients and Monarch
Airlines introduces mood food.
In the same vein (pun intended),
adaptogens are gaining popularity
and the benefits of herbs to lower
cortisol levels becoming greater.
Gwyneth Paltrow uses several in her
morning smoothie.
Are mood-enhancing ingredients of
immediate interest to passengers?
Judging from the above poll, no, but
expect this topic to grow in
popularity over time.
Survey:Telegraph

8. Personalisation
Is everywhere.
- Create a DNA-based weight loss plan with diet app Lose It (US only)
- EverlyWell sells home health tests with results used for optimised
health decisions (US only)
- St. Ives’ Mixing Bar in NYC lets customers create a customised face
scrub or body lotion
- Create your own signature shoe with Nike

9. Original content
The media andTV landscape continues to change rapidly.
Original show and movie content is dominated by Netflix,Amazon Prime
Video, HBO and Hulu, and now Apple has budgeted approx. $1 billion to
produce original content over the next year.
Image: Slashgear.com

10. Disrupting antiquated
business models
Superannuation, the share market, banking and health insurance are
industries that get a bad reputation for their complexity and level of
paperwork.
- Better is an American app that makes health claims easy.
- Read more: Fast Company
- These five start-ups are giving the mortgage process a digital upgrade.
- NZ’s Sharesies simplifies investing

11. Ford to sell ‘mobility’
In a future of car ownership is threatened with driverless cars and
increased take-up of ridesharing, Ford reinvents the showroom to sell
‘mobility’.
Read more: Ford media release
Image: Ford

12. The future of fake news?
A team of researchers have figured out a way to use neural networks to
generate fake video of Barack Obama. By using audio clips and
algorithms, trained to manipulate mouth movements, the generated
video is so realistic that it is hard to identify the manipulated video and
the original.
Image: Fast Co. Design

13. Boeing lasers
Boeing aircraft could soon shoot lasers out of their noses to identify
areas of turbulence. In early 2018, a B777 will put this concept to the test.
Image: Getty

14. Natural disasters putting pressure
on airports
In the last month, many cities and their core infrastructure have been
disrupted due to storms, earthquakes and other natural events.What can
we learn for better preparation?
USAToday
NZ Herald
USAToday
Business Insider

15. From media to smart appliances
Buzzfeed is experimenting with different commerce initiatives and is
launching a fancy OneTop hot plate.A captive audience already exists -
Buzzfeed’s cooking brand,Tasty gets 2.3 billion video views each month.
Read more:TechCrunch
Image:Tasty OneTop

16. Sanitising handrails
LG and Clearwin claim that their new steriliser can wipe out 99.99% of
germs on handrails through UVGI, ultraviolet germicidal irradiation. It
can be easily installed on escalators and converts the movement of the
handrail into the power it needs to work.This may be a great incentive
for people to hold onto handrails more, and reduce the rate of falls.
Read more:TheVerge
Image: LG

17. Travel sleep aid gadgets
Businesses like Plane Pal and Fly Legs Up have introduced gadgets that
help passengers, especially those with kids, utilise economy class space
more efficiently.
Some airlines are banning such gadgets, citing safety issues with blocking
aisle access.
Image: Fly Legs Up Image: Plane Pal

18. New in retail
- Alibaba is embracing big data to connect offline outlets and online
stores to enhance customer experiences.The company has launched
an experimental cashier-less store calledTao Café.
- Brandless sells everyday household essentials for $3 per item,
removing the 40% ‘brand tax’ by going direct to the consumer.
- The Zero Waste Shop in the UK encourages customers to bring in
their own reusable containers for packaging.
- Uniqlo is experimenting with vending machines that sell items such
as jackets and tops

19. KLM CareTag
For the month of September KLM has offered passengers to Amsterdam
the ‘KLM CareTag’. It is a location-aware audio luggage tag that
automatically provides visitors with location-based verbal tips on how to
traverse the city.The tag is made up of an offline GPS module and a
speaker – no internet required.
Image: KLM

20. Factors driving the much of the
change we see now include
extreme longevity, the rise of smart
machines and systems, our
computational world, new media
ecology, superstructure
organisations and the globally
connected world.
With these in play, what will the
working landscape look like in five
years and what skills will employees
need to succeed?
Read more: Medium
Skills needed to
succeed at work in 2020

21. Starburst Accelerator
Starburst works with start-ups that are focused on the aerospace industry,
such as companies that are:
- Working with drones, sensors and energy sources
- Designing the vehicles of the future
- Developing passenger experience
Read more on Wired,Arstechnica, PR Newswire andTechCrunch

22. Please get in touch with feedback, comments or ideas:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/solangefrancois/
TRENDWATCH